Modernism Week October 2026: What's Still Open in the Valley

By late September, the Modernism Week events with the biggest headlines for October 15–18, 2026 were already gone. The ticket page for the first-ever Modernism Week tour of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway says "Sold Out." The Twin Palms walking tour, the Sunnylands house tour, the Kirk Douglas Estate tour and the Cotino progressive dinner are also marked sold out. Even the free Downtown Palm Springs Village Green Historic Tour has no seats left on any Oct. 15 departure.

Look at what's still open and a different festival shows up. The tickets you can still get mostly point at people who work in the valley year-round, and at the history right outside your door. That turns the October edition into something close to a local art-and-design weekend, and a lot of it is free.

The Smaller Festival, Measured Against February

Modernism Week bills the October event as a four-day, smaller version of the 11-day festival in February, with more than 50 events. CEO Lisa Vossler Smith described this year's additions as "new curated events that will allow our guests to participate in dining, social, and exclusive wine tasting experiences." Four days means fewer seats on every tour, and the premium experiences went first.

Here's where things stood as of late September 2026. Ticket inventory is live and can change, so treat this as a snapshot.

The Tramway tour gives a sense of what sold out. For $170 you got 3.75 hours covering Albert Frey's Valley Station on the desert floor and E. Stewart Williams's Mountain Station at the top, plus an interpretive film, a mountain walk and lunch at Peaks Restaurant. Transportation and parking weren't included. It was built for a visitor's day. The cheaper rows in the table were built for people who already have a car, a garage and a free Saturday here.

Saturday Belongs to the Studios

The Modernism Art District Tour is free and self-guided. More than 50 Coachella Valley artists open their studios across five art districts. You pick where to start, buy work straight from the artists, and see educational displays tying contemporary pieces to the midcentury masters. It runs on Saturday, Oct. 17, during a five-hour window. You need a ticket even though it's free, it's open to all ages, and it's a driving tour.

Here are the five stops, with the approximate artist count listed for each:

1. The Perez Art District, 68845 Perez Rd., Cathedral City, about 30 artists
2. Backstreet Art District, 2600 S. Cherokee Way, Palm Springs, about 8 artists
3. SOTA Art District, south of the airport around 4501 E. Sunny Dunes Rd., about 7 artists
4. The Lofts at Sun Center Art District, 610 S. Belardo Rd., about 6 artists
5. Via Negocio Arts, 1800 N. Via Negocio, about 3 artists

Perez Road has about as many participating artists as the other four districts combined, so it's the obvious anchor for a Saturday plan. Every location has parking, according to the tour page. From there you can reach Backstreet and SOTA on the south side of Palm Springs, then head up to Sun Center on Belardo and finish at Via Negocio on the north end.

The tour page prints the hours with an obvious typo. The window is five hours on Oct. 17, so check the exact start time when you reserve.

Two Cheaper Ways Into the History

The free talk is called "William Charles Tanner: The Man Who Designed Early Palm Springs," and its 9 a.m. session lists a free general-admission ticket. It's an hour long. Most of the sold-out tours walk past buildings, and this talk looks at who designed the town those buildings went into.

The Palm Springs Modernism Fall Show at the Palm Springs Convention Center opens Saturday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. One $30 ticket gets you in both days. If you want first pick from the vintage dealers, the Preview Party on Friday, Oct. 16 costs $95 in advance or $110 at the door. It includes cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and re-entry all weekend.

At $30, a weekend pass to the show costs less than any guided home tour on the schedule.

The Dinner That Quietly Disappeared

When Modernism Week announced the schedule on July 29, the new Fall Dining Series included a dinner at Trio Restaurant on Oct. 16 for $165. The listing called it "a beloved Palm Springs gathering place for nearly two decades."

Two weeks later, CityWatch LA reported that Trio had closed after 17 years at 707 N. Palm Canyon Drive in the Uptown Design District. The restaurant occupied a building designed in 1953 by John Porter Clark and Albert Frey. OpenTable was still taking reservations in late July, and the owners haven't explained the closure publicly. The Coachella Valley Independent also reported the downtown closure and noted that Trio's airport location is still open.

The current official Entertainment & Social page lists Fall Dining Series dates for Bar Issi, Eight4Nine and King's Highway. Trio isn't on it. No cancellation notice has been posted, and we couldn't find any local report on what's next for the Clark and Frey building. A Frey building that sits dark during Modernism Week is a reminder that the architecture these tours celebrate is also working commercial space, and it changes hands on the town's own schedule.

Here's what remains of the new evening program:

• Bar Issi, Fall Dining Series, Oct. 15, $230
• Eight4Nine Restaurant & Lounge, Fall Dining Series, Oct. 15, $190, in a midcentury-era building in the Uptown Design District
• King's Highway at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club, Fall Dining Series, Oct. 17, $120
• Spirit Animal inside Hotel Zoso, After Dark with DJ Aylex Song, Oct. 16, $45
• Amigo Room at the Ace, After Dark listening party with DJ Bobby, Oct. 17, $70
• Hall Winery, Modernism Week Wined-Up with Lisa Vossler Smith, Oct. 15, $150

At $45 and $70, the After Dark nights are the cheapest way into the new social side of the festival. Both are at bars you can visit any other week of the year.

Behind the Gates in Rancho Mirage

One of this year's firsts goes deeper into valley history than anything else on the schedule. "Blue Skies Village: Behind the Gates of a Hollywood Hideaway" on Oct. 17 costs $85 and is a walking tour. The current official page lists interiors of seven mobile homes, a hidden garden and access to the William F. Cody–designed clubhouse, which Modernism Week dates to 1953–56. The July announcement listed the same tour for Oct. 17 at $85 but described six interiors, so go by the current page.

According to Palm Springs Life, Bing Crosby bought the land in 1952, while he was cohosting a radio show with Jack Benny at the El Mirador Hotel. Rancho Mirage's own history counts 48 entertainment-world investors, among them Barbara Stanwyck, Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Humphrey Bogart and Danny Kaye. It also cites a March 1955 Desert Sun report saying the trailer park opened on New Year's Day. Streets there are named for early residents and investors, including Jack Benny, George Burns and Barbara Stanwyck. Today Blue Skies is a gated community. People live there, so getting inside takes a festival ticket, and KESQ called this year's visit the first-ever tour of the village.

Ticket status changes quickly, so check ModTix before you plan your Saturday around the Blue Skies tour.

If the October weekend whets your appetite, two more dates are already set. Scoop Palm Springs brings more than 20 local ice cream, gelato and paleta makers to Downtown Park on Nov. 1 from noon to 4 p.m. The 40th Greater Palm Springs Pride parade steps off on Palm Canyon Drive at 10 a.m. on Nov. 8.

Midcentury design is part of what we sell and part of where we live, and the team at Backbeat Homes loves talking Frey, Cody and Clark with anyone who's curious. If a studio visit on Perez Road or an afternoon at the Fall Show gets you thinking about the house behind the architecture, we're happy to walk you through its story. Work With Us.